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Garage Startup
Apple Inc. had its genesis in the lifelong dream of Stephen G. Wozniak to build his own computer—a dream that was made suddenly feasible with the arrival in 1975 of the first commercially successful microcomputer, the Altair 8800, which came as a kit and used the recently invented microprocessor chip. Encouraged by his friends at the Homebrew Computer Club, a San Francisco Bay area group centred around the Altair, Wozniak quickly came up with a plan for his own microcomputer. -
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Computer: Apple Inc.
Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer, Inc., American manufacturer of personal computers, computer peripherals, and computer software. It was the first successful personal computer company and the popularizer of the graphical user interface. Headquarters are located in Cupertino, California. -
Original House & Garage
In 1976, when the Hewlett-Packard Company, where Wozniak was an engineering intern, expressed no interest in his design, Wozniak, then 26 years old, together with a former high-school classmate, 21-year-old Steven P. Jobs, moved production operations to the Jobs family garage—and the Silicon Valley garage start-up company legend was born. -
Picture of the 2 "Steves"
There was a third cofounder, too, named Ronald Wayne. Jobs brought Wayne on board to provide business guidance for the two young cofounders, but he ended up leaving the company before it was even officially incorporated. Wayne took an $800 check for his shares in the company. -
Founders of Apple Computers
Founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created Apple Computer on April 1, 1976,[1] and incorporated the company on January 3, 1977,[2] in Cupertino, California. -
The Apple II Computer
Jobs and Wozniak named their company Apple. For working capital, Jobs sold his Volkswagen minibus and Wozniak his programmable calculator. Their first model was simply a working circuit board, but at Jobs’s insistence the 1977 version was a stand-alone machine in a custom-molded plastic case. This Apple II also offered a color display and other features that made Wozniak’s creation the first microcomputer that appealed to the average person. -
Apple's Office & Production Line
By 1978, Apple would actually have a real office, with employees and an Apple II production line. This was also around the time some early Apple employees grew tired of prolonged exposure to the famously difficult Jobs. -
New Technology Changes the Market
The Xerox PARC lab is world-famous for its technological accomplishments, which include the laser printer, mouse, and ethernet networking. In 1979, Apple engineers were allowed to visit the PARC campus for three days, in exchange for the option to buy 100,000 shares of Apple for $10 a share. -
The Apple III is Released
In 1980, Apple released the Apple III, a business-focused computer that was supposed to compete with the growing threat of IBM and Microsoft. But the Apple III was only a stopgap, and Xerox PARC had gotten the young Jobs thinking in a different direction ... -
Apple Company Grows
Apple’s profits and size grew at a historic rate: by 1980 the company netted over $100 million and had more than 1,000 employees. Its public offering in December was the biggest since 1956, and by the end of 1980, Apple’s valuation of nearly $2 billion was greater than Ford’s. -
IBM Wins the Market
IBM had waited for the personal computer market to grow before introducing its own line of personal computers, the IBM PC, in 1981. IBM broke with its tradition of using only proprietary hardware components and software and built a machine from readily available components, including the Intel microprocessor, and used DOS (disk operating system) from the Microsoft Corporation. -
Apple's Lisa Computer Released
The first functional graphical user interface (GUI), featuring on-screen windows, a pointing device known as a mouse, and the use of icons, or pictures, to replace the awkward protocols required by all other computers. Apple immediately incorporated these ideas into two new computers: Lisa, released in 1983, and the lower-cost Macintosh, released in 1984. -
The Lower cost Macintosh is released
Jobs ended up leading the second project ... the Apple Macintosh, billed as the most user-friendly computer to date. It would go on to become popular with graphic-design professionals, who liked its visual chops (even though it was in black and white). It was still very expensive, however. -
Steve Jobs is ousted
Things came to a head in 1985 when Jobs tried to stage a coup and oust Sculley — but Apple's board of directors took Sculley's side and removed Jobs from his managerial duties. A furious Jobs quit and went on to found NeXT, a computer company making advanced workstations where he had total control. -
Jobs & Wozniak no longer at Apple
With Jobs gone, Sculley had a free hand at Apple. At first, things seemed great, and Apple introduced its PowerBook laptop and System 7 operating system in 1991. System 7 introduced color to the Macintosh operating system, and would stick around (with updates) until OS X was released in 2001. -
Michael Spindler takes over as CEO
Between the high-profile flops and the costly decision to move to PowerPC, Apple's board had had enough. After Apple missed on its first quarter earnings in 1993, Sculley was fired and replaced as CEO by Michael Spindler, a German expatriate who had been with Apple since 1980. -
Ceo Scully is replaced by Amelio
In 1994, the first Macintosh running on a PowerPC was released. But Apple's fortunes continued to sag as Windows took off. After acquisition talks with IBM, Sun MicroSystems, and Philips all fell through, Apple's board replaced Sculley with Gil Amelio in 1996. -
Microsift Invests in Apple
Under the new era of Jobs' leadership, the company would make nice with Microsoft, which invested $150 million in Apple circa 1997. -
Amelio decides to buy NeXT Company
Amelio's tenure was equally troubled. Under his reign, Apple stock hit a 12-year low (largely because Steve Jobs himself sold 1.5 million Apple shares in a single transaction). Amelio decided to just purchase Jobs' NeXT Computer for $429 million in February of 1997 and bring him back to Apple. -
Jobs returns as CEO
On July 4 weekend that same year, Jobs would stage a boardroom coup and convince Apple's board to install him as interim CEO. Amelio resigned a week later. -
Jobs new Computer - IMAC
Jobs had Jony Ive spearhead the design of the iMac, an all-in-one computer released in 1998. -
2000
The 2000s, though, was the decade that saw an Apple explosion. The iPod changed Apple completely. A portable music player, the first model was released in 2001, and the iTunes Store was released in 2003 at a point when Apple's computers now ran on MacOS. -
MACS OS X replaces the System 7
In 2001, Jobs introduced Mac OS X, based on the operating system from NeXT Computers, finally replacing System 7. -
New system Architecture
Apple finally moved to an Intel-based system architecture. -
Apple makes history
The single biggest victory for Apple — and arguably the world of technology as a whole — was 2007's introduction of the iPhone. The rest is, as they say, history. -
Steve Jobs Resigns
In 2011, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple due to health concerns, and longtime employees and previous COO Tim Cook was announced as his replacement. The Tim Cook era of Apple has seen the company continue to keep its spot atop the tech industry. Even newer products that have been criticized, such as the Apple Watch, have sold well. iPhones, MacBooks and iPads continue to release new and improved models with constantly updating iOS and MacOS systems.
